Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 742,342 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 122% from the previous session’s volume of 333,919 shares.The stock last traded at $102.3250 and had previously closed at $107.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Novanta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Novanta from $139.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novanta from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Novanta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $133.00.

Novanta Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.82. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 59.93 and a beta of 1.54.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. Novanta had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 14.70%. The firm had revenue of $247.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Novanta has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.240-3.300 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.870-0.930 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Novanta announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Novanta by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 485,196 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,042,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243 shares in the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Novanta by 163.8% during the 1st quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 38,823 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,964,000 after purchasing an additional 24,107 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Novanta by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 693,090 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $88,626,000 after purchasing an additional 12,921 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Novanta by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,578 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,710,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in Novanta during the 1st quarter valued at about $818,000. Institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

About Novanta

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.